Should Spangenberg be successful, the teen would be sentenced to life with a parole ineligibility of five to seven years because he committed the murder when he was under the age of 16.

However, if Garson decides he will be sentenced as a youth, the penalty is much less severe. For second-degree murder, the sentence is seven years, with a mandatory four years spent in custody.

And the youth's identity remains protected.

The jury was asked for recommendations on parole eligibility. Four had no recommendation, two suggested five years, two said six years and four said seven years.

A sentencing hearing must be scheduled but Spangenberg told Garson a pre-sentence report must be ordered and there will be victim impact statements.

He also intends on filing a report from a Hamilton police officer who links the youth to a street gang. The Crown will be seeking a psychiatric assessment.

Both Spangenberg and defence lawyer Tyler MacDonald will meet with Garson Thursday to hash out some prelminary scheduling.

Sinclair's wife, friends and family left the courtroom quietly once the jury had been discharged.

Sinclair died from a shot to the heart from a bullet that had passed through his arm. He was also shot in the leg and shoulder.

The youth testified he tried to give Sinclair “leggers” or “leg warmers” as ordered by a man he only knew as Migo, one of his drug customers in Hamilton's Hess Village.

He testified Migo offered him $10,000 because Sinclair had disrespected him and ripped him off.

The youth said he and Migo drove to London to case out the Lounge and returned to Hamilton. Migo gave him a gun and the car and the youth, despite not having a driver's licence, drove back to London and hung around outside the address waiting for Sinclair to appear.

Sinclair and a group of patrons emerged at about 5 a.m. The youth said he recognized Sinclair from photos and tried to shoot him in the legs from a distance of about three metres.

He took off and drove back to Hamilton, hid out for a few days, and despite asking for his payment, never saw Migo again, he said.

Assistant Crown attorney James Spangenberg showed the jury multiple surveillance videos from two cabs, a variety store and outside the building where Sinclair was shot.

Spangenburg argued the youth was much closer to Sinclair than he suggested, and the shots were meant to kill Sinclair.

Also denied by the youth was the assertion he was hired by someone he knows who was avenging the beating of a friend at the Lounge a week earlier, after the friend brought a gun into the club and shot it at Sinclair's feet.

The jury has heard a jail cell recording of the youth discussing what happened with an undercover police officer.

The youth was hardly shaken under cross-examination and even referred to Shakespeare's Othello when he was describing his inner dialogue while showing bravado in his conversation with the police offer.

None of Sinclair's family wanted to comment after the verdict, but Michelle Brown, a friend of Sinclair who was at the club that night, said the second-degree verdict “was better than manslaughter.”

“A child has done this and hopefully he changes after this,” she said.

Brown said she was in favour of an adult sentence. “It needs to be done, just to prove that a child shouldn't be having guns in their hands.”

She said Sinclair was “a hard-working man” who loved his family and “just liked to have a good time.”